Cycling around a Dutch bus stop is very easy. The Dutch design makes that people on bicycles only have to negotiate with people walking, not with the bus or other motor traffic.
More info: http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/riding-around-the-bus-stop/
There is a huge and dangerous difference in mass and speed between a bus and someone on a bicycle. That is why the Dutch separate these types of traffic as much as possible. And this is a very old tradition that started at the bus stop. This picture from 1953
Shows a bus stop with a cycle track around it in Utrecht. Sixty years ago the Dutch already separated people cycling from the buses at the bus stop. Other pictures from that time show how people cycle through this bus stop bypass.
It was not much, but there was enough room for bus passengers to board the bus without interfering with the people cycling around them. The bypass was two buses long and swerved in a wide curve. So reducing speed while cycling was not necessary. The bypass connected to a cycle lane.
And from this it is only a small step to a completely separated cycle path. And that is exactly what we find on this place today. The bus stop has moved away from here but the cycle track stayed. This 1969 picture shows that at that time this system was not used everywhere.
But even that place does have a cycle track around the bus stop today. Cycling around this bus stop is possible without any interference with the people waiting for the bus. Because the system has been in use for over half a century
All passengers are very used to it. They know they have to cross the cycle path after leaving the bus and they do so with care. Only after this woman has reached the safety of the sidewalk she checks her belongings and is on her way
Most of the modern bus stops have a waiting island of at least two meters wide. The crosswalk across the cycle path is marked with tactile tiles for the visually impaired and the curbs are lowered for people in mobility scooters or with strollers.
When a bus arrives there is no interaction at all between people cycling and that bus. Motor traffic has to stay behind the bus. There’s no room for overtaking. And once the cycle path is clear the pedestrians carefully cross it. Even in winter conditions this system works perfectly.
The view from the saddle shows it is very easy to pass the bus and the passengers that just left it. When there isn’t much space the waiting island can be a lot narrower. But even that works very well. You these narrow waiting islands in narrower high streets as well.
The few tiles wide area prevents that passengers step into the cycle path right away and that is precisely enough to make the bus stops safe for all. At very busy stops we see a barrier between the cycle track and the bus stop. This prevents larger groups of people
Stepping into the cycle track without realizing it. So this is the standard Dutch solution for a bus stop: a cycle path around it. A waiting island that is preferably at least two meters wide with a safe and clear crossing, also for people with disabilities.
If possible there is a place to park your bicycle, an indication of the waiting times and a shelter for the waiting passengers. A perfect and safe place for the bus to stop. At least if it had to stop…
41 Comments
You make me sad to be British !!!
A really good cycle infrastructure! We have the same here in Denmark, it is brilliant and like you said, because it has been here for so long, everyone knows how it works!
that would be great here in the states, but wait, it would not work. People here don't know how to wait. They also don't know how to drive either.
Utreg, m'n stadsie!
Are motorbikes or scooters allowed to go in the cycle lane ?
I wonder what the Dutch think about Chicago and Bikes lol. Its a mess here
"Psychopath".
We have a few of these in Britain now, but because they're not widespread, the vast majority of pedestrians aren't used to them yet so you get bus passengers stepping directly out onto the cycle path without looking, or even people standing on the cycle track leaving no room.
Hopefully it'll get better as they become more commonplace and with time people will learn how to integrate with cycle infrastructure as both pedestrians and motorists, but we have a long way to go.
Motor traffic is not required to stay behind the bus. As long as the bus is at the stop they are allowed to overtake, when possible. The line on the road is not solid.
The best thing is that you keep talking about psychopaths 😀
The London Borough of Enfield has just spent a fortune on building our own "mini Holland" network of cycle lanes. Naturally it didn't occur to those clowns to actually look at how the Dutch do things. Plenty of space to build these floating bus stops yet they have the protected cycle lane actually between the bus' doors and the bus stop. An utter Shambles!
Unfortunately the Dutch cycling infrastructure design is going backwards now, not forwards. Bus stop bypasses are less common, or even disappearing, and "shared space" threatens the safety of all vulnerable road users.
At the same time has the anglo-saxon helmet hysteria reached The Netherlands: prominent in (bike) commercials, bike shops, and hardly to overlook while cycling. And then there is the relentless pushing of cars that still never stops: listen to the Dutch radio, go to the Dutch cinema, watch telly in NL, every other advert is for cars…
Our standard in New Orleans is, apparently, to extend the curb out to encompass the parking lane BUT since the same street features an unprotected cycle lane sandwiched between the parking lane and the traffic lane, the bus PULLS OVER INTO THE BIKE LANE.
Automobiles needn't remain behind the stopped bus there because the centre line down that 2-lane roadway is dashed, not solid. Anyhow, the rudimentary system implemented spottily around Montreal somewhat recently is new to anglo Canadian tourists..their snobby, superior behaviour seems very Toronto whenever I have to warn them of the danger they're immediately putting themselves and speeding cyclists into as they step into the yellow-striped pathway from the bus stop island when exiting the buses..if only I could relish watching crashes instead!
oh, yes. heaven. as a synonym for the Netherlands.
3:01 Which bus model is this?
Normally in Germany the cycle path ends before the bus stop begins. The German says that you must run behind a bus stop with your bike very slowly. The traffice sign signs that that is a footpath where the cyclist has rights to use it. When a pedestrian comes the cyclist must give him priority. That means that you must watch the people who get off the bus and you must decelerate.
Does it work the same way with trams?
How wide are the narrow waiting islands? For example, the ones at 1:40, 2:53 (seems especially narrow; not ideal), and 3:14 in the video. Seems to be the last resort for having a bus stop when there's simply no room otherwise for a wider one with a shelter in it.
In the UK the cycle lane (if we're even lucky enough to get a foot of painted road) just abruptly ends at a bus stop, so we are supposed to merge with motor traffic alongside us, then go for a gap in oncoming motor traffic. It's fun.
In the UK you just overtake the bus and hope he doesn't pull out at the same time lol
As a Dutch person watching this, feels like a video of everyday life.
To be honest… I think this is more to protect the people getting off the bus from the cyclists
"Once the cycle path is clear, pedestrians carefully cross it" Yes, no pedestrian crossings on bike paths. Why? I thought that pedestrians should be given priority.
How do pedestrians reach the "waining island" at 3:00 ? There are only bike lanes on the sidewalk – no room reserved for pedestrians.
As a Dutch I didn’t realize that this is so special to foreigners!
Oh dus daarom staat er 1 in utrecht naast mijn opa’s huis
Great channel 👍
Brilliant solution
Very dangerous for vulneraboe pedestrians, as seen in Copenhagen and other cities
1:25 That bus needs its break pads changed. That's the sound they make to remind you to change them before they break and you have no brakes.
Not mixing bikes and buses …
What a great ides, you might want to explain it to belgian politicians that think opening the bus lane to bikes is a replacement for decent bike infrastructure
Ohhh, it looks so well, when everybody used it as designed. Unfortunately in Germany (or most of it where I see it) , it does not work well, while pedestrians dont't care about.
No shelter from the rain, traffic whizzing past you on the right, bikes racing past you on the left, no accessibility for wheelchairs on those narrow bus islands
Waiting for the bus on one of those really narrow islands, sandwiched between the road and the cycle track, seems like an uncomfortable experience — especially if there is no shelter and it starts to rain. The 2m-wide islands seem more accommodating.
Just had a bicycle path installed outside some buildings where I wait for the bus (I'm also an avid biker for commuting as well). Everyone was commenting over how the bus stop should be in front of bike path. Watched this video. I'm going to find a way to send it to the city planners. From Ottawa, Canada.
remove the road completely.
This video has a "nature documentary about off-spring" vibe 😀
"Look at these dutch! Here they built their first grade-seperated bus stops. Soon they will learn to built their entire road network with grade seperation for different modes."
mind blowing
So pedestrians have to wait for cyclists? That's the wrong priority there in my opinion.
To make it even safer one should invent buses with ANTI-CRASH-RADAR on top. As soon as a cyclist or pedestrian is closer than the brakeway the anti-crash should activate the brake automatically.